ABSTRACT
Is it possible to still teach Shakespeare to today’s actors, who have developed a strong sense of their intersectional and racialized identities, in more liberatory and relevant ways? This chapter contextualizes current Shakespeare acting pedagogy, problematizing universality as an access point for students, particularly those of color, and provides contextual groundwork that positions Shakespeare’s plays in relation to antiracist and decolonial practices. It primarily utilizes embodied practice as research (coursework at University of California: Santa Cruz) to illuminate emergent decolonial pedagogy. These practices compel young actors to see where their own stories magnify Shakespeare’s texts and where the two diverge, encouraging the use of identity as an empowered starting point from which to encounter Shakespeare’s text, characters, and themes. This chapter concludes with practical exercises and curricular suggestions to embody this theory and to teach Shakespeare’s texts with a renewed sense of agency, contextualization, and courage.
